1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to electronic entertainment systems and relates more particularly to a system and method for utilizing line-of-sight volumes in a game environment.
2. Description of the Background Art
Many video games have three-dimensional game environments and allow a character controlled by a user to freely roam within those environments. Game environments are often complex and include many game elements other than characters. Exemplary game elements are structures, walls, pillars, vehicles, rocks, trees, and hills. Characters may interact with some of these game elements, for example by driving a vehicle. Other game elements, for example trees, may only be part of the background and will not react to actions by the character.
Generally, a camera is an entity in game software that defines the area of the game environment that a system displays on a screen at any given time. What the camera “sees” is what is displayed on the screen. In some games, the camera follows the movements of a main character through the game environment, providing a third-person view of the game environment. In such a game, the main character may move into an area of the game environment that is hidden from the camera's view. For example, the main character may be behind a boulder or in a corner formed by walls.
In some games, the user has some control over the camera and can reposition it to bring the main character into view. However, in other games, the user has no or very limited control over the camera. In these games, the user must maneuver the main character to bring it into view. But since the main character is hidden, the user may not be sure exactly how to move the main character relative to the obscuring game element, and may need to randomly articulate the game controls to eventually maneuver the main character from its hidden position.
Dealing with a character hidden by other game elements can be very frustrating for a user, particularly a novice user who is unfamiliar with the niceties of game controls. Even experienced users may be irritated by such interruptions in game play, particularly in fighting games when an attacking opponent may also be hidden from the camera.
In some games, a camera automatically re-positions itself when a character is lost from view. In other games, the game software may switch to another camera when one camera loses sight of a character. Each of these approaches requires significant system processing resources to be accomplished.